West coast. In the ocean, scuba divers are hard at the water here is 5 meters deep. A diver swims near a lar steel frame. The frame carries an electric current designed to speed up corral growth. The divers are growing coral due to the danger of the white sands disappearing. Around ten years ago, the waves gan to wa began to wash away the sands during the rainy season. What we are selling is our pristine white sand and the crystal blue water, so if its gone, then there will be no island. There will be no tourist destination. From 2012, work began with the cooperation of japanese researchers, to analyze the cause of the sand loss. Based on the results of that study, local people are trying to take action. For me, its a challenge. Its a beautiful place. No doubt about it. Very beautiful. Not just the sand, but the under water. Its a challenge, because there are so many problems that somehow erode the benefits from the resources. Can the island protect its white sands . We follow the work underway, to save the beaches of boracay. Boracay attracts 1. 5 million tourists a year. Recently, increasing numbers of visitors come not only from europe and north america, but also, from other asian countries. The healthy Tourism Industry is driven by the beautiful beach. Its sand is formed from an accumulation of coral fragments from the bay. We come from australia where they have nice beaches. I love the trees coming down. Its a paradise beach. Yeah. Freedom. The most prettiest beach ive ever been do. Do the activity, all, yeah. Water is nice, yeah. There are now 350 hotels on the island. The tourists trade brings in 500 million a year. Good morning, kids. A closer look at the beach, however, reveals something alarming. Have you seen see. Also, over there. Over here. See. And you see here. So you see how the sand here and the roots exposed, and see there. Along the beach are palm trees with their roots exposed from the some have even begun to fall over. In other places, the condition is worst. Before, its all sand all the way here. The sand is all the way there, in the rocks. It changed. It changed. The sand was covering the rock, all the way to the stairs, and underneath. Its meaning is the sand was gone from here. Yeah. It slowly is. Elena has been living on the island for 20 years. She says that it was only around ten years ago that the waves began to erode the during the rainy season between june and october, the waves reach right up the beach. Recently, these floods may occur more than ten times a year. Sometimes the beaches flooded for up to four the Marine Science Institute at the university of the philippines. Dr. Miguel fortes is a scientist based here, together with colleagues of japan, he has been researching Boracay Island since 2012. Dr. Fortes has focused on the coral off shore to try to understand the causes of the beach erosion. First coral reef what, is it . Its a structure dominated coral between animals and plants. Microscopic plants. They live together, and living together, they form what we now see as the corals. The corals form as an ecosystem, the coral reef. Its related to sea amenies. On the surface are numerous small tentables, known as polyps. Inside the polyps live flitoplankin, producing amino acids. These amino acids are absorbed by the nutrients. Calcium within seawater, calum carbonate skeleton. The slow growing coral is very sensitive to changes in its environment. This satellite image shows the sea bed around Boracay Island. The island is in the middle. The coral areas are shown in pink. Dr. Fortes paid attention off the white beach. By following the changes occurring since 1988, the decline is very easy to Analysis Shows that the amount of coral in the sea off white beach has decreased by 40 over the past two decades. Between the beach and the coral, will is also an increasing area in brown, where the coral has died and simply left behind its crumbled skeleton. Dr. Fortes has been analyzing photographs. They show in certain areas, the coral has vanished altogether. The area, 1988, you have coral not just here, from there, there, but look, practically disappeared. This is dinowad, photographed in 1988. The darker areas in the water show extending for around 100 meters. Almost 20 years later, the coral is nearly all gone. Waves, water, it erodes the land. There must be a protection, and the coral is the Number One Protection against that. With coral off shore, the incoming waves are broken up and diminished as they reach land. Without the protection, the waves are stronger when they hit the shore, and climb higher up the beach. These waves are eroding the sand, and carrying it back out to sea. Just how far back the beach has receded over the past two decades is evident from these aerial photographs. Very good. Dr. Fortes also points out that development along the beach front has accelerated the problem. This one, especially. You know, if the structure is like that, and the waves strikes, the force is stronger once it goes down. If it is slanted like this, it is lesser. Thats why the natural, its flat. So that the waves driven by the wind will just go and then down. But if you put it like this in response to the study, the local authorities are working to remove terraces and other structures at risk of the beach. This restaurant has been in business for 40 years. Its terrace once reached out two meters on to the beach, but has since been removed. But now its been removed. Up to this level, yeah, to that. Thats the temporary use of the beach. Thats one way of protecting the beach also. It hurts somehow to the business, to the restaurant owner, but its good for everybody, yeah, and were following this one. It is to preserve rather than losing all thats been here. The off shore coral has always protected white beach, but why did it disappear so rapidly. Dr. Fortes says one of the reasons is the rise in sea levels due to global warming. There is really no good data to show the increase in series and longterm. None yet. But we have seen the level has been increasing very gradually. If you change the depth, that is critical for the coral, because of the light that they need. There is fewer or less production of food. Dr. Fortes also points out that the destruction of ecosystems is another major factor. In the 1980 as, boracay was a quiet island covered in forest. It had a population of just 3,000. Local people engaged in fishing and agriculture, living a selfsufficient lifestyle. Word of the beaches spread, following visits by european back packers. As the islands reputation grew around the world, tourist numbers continued to rise. In 1984, the number of visitors to the island was 14,000. By 1995, the number had risen to 80,000, climbing to 500,000 in 2005. Over the next decade, the number nearly tripled. Hotels, restaurants and other facilities were built in a ban du abundance for the influx of tourists. As a result, 30 of the forest was lost. The other, very common factor, which reduce coral cover is sedimentation, especially when the forests are cut, and you have rains bringing the sediments and the soil down to the coral reef, and corals have very small pores where they have living organisms and its clogged by the silt, they die. Today, the pop lakes of boracay is around 30,000. Ten times that of 30 years ago. However, sewage and drainage systems have not kept pace with the rapid population growth. According to a 2013 survey, more than half of households throw their waste water untreated into drains. In some cases, it flows directly into the sea. This contamination of the seawater is yet another factor, resulting in the death of the coral. Currently, waste water on 35 of the island is being treated. After the conclusion later this year of a new Sewage Treatment plant, that number will rise to 75 . All of this is coming from people, activities, and the trend in boracay is staggering so much. This is alarming. The departmen of tourism, dot, targets 2. 7 million by 2018. But the basic question is can they handle it. They cannot even handle half of it, but now theyre planning. What does it young people from the island are currently working to regenerate the lost coral. Adele is a diving instructor, he has been helping dr. Fortes with his studies. With guidance from experts, adele and other diving instructors are working to rebuild the coral. They regularly go to check on its these large steel frames are at the core. A tiny electric current flowing through the structure encourages the coral to grow by taking on sal see yum. Within a few years, natural coral will develop. Currently, the frames are installed in two different locations. If these test projects are successful, there are plans to install more. You can see the growing coral. It wasnt there before. The one we planted, its growing. Its big already, after one year. If you plant coral, it grows one inch every year. But when i saw or planting, its more than one inches. Its even wide. So we were so happy that the coral is adapting the whenever he visits the island, dr. Fortes examines video shot by adele off of white beach. This is a recovering reef. Its recovering. Coral, the first year comes the succession, and of course, the fast growers, massive, and here. Its a good sign. There is really no growth, but growth doesnt mean that its already functioning. Growth is a normal response. Okay. But this indication that there is a potential for that to recover and maybe colonize, so duty of everyone sustain it, and enhance it. Dr. Fortes is also working to teach the islands youth about the importance of the environment. Today, 25 have come to hear him speak. Natural wealth of boracay. Natural wet of boracay. In other words, you are going to identify. In your perception as a team, where the wealth of boracay is or are. He divides the group five different teams and asks them to think about the 20 minutes pass. Its time. Okay. Any volunteers . What is your answer . Team 3, wow. Shes smiling. Shes very confident. Come on. What is your name . Katie. Katie. Katie. Okay, katie. The number one because many people come. Tourism. Yes. Good. There are possibilities of other foreign people can be, and you can also get fish which are for only waters. Good. How about the others . The number one is the tourist destinations are the beaches. The tourists come here for swimming in the beach. Tourist destinations. Tourists come here. How about the other teams . Two. The number one is mainly the beach. The coast al area. The beach. So your answers are what we call the best answers. But you forgot one very important wealth of boracay. Of course, the environment is the number one. So it includes tourism, destinations, because its environment upon which tourism thrives, but for me, for me, you forgot people. People, environment and people. Interaction between the two and everything really so huge under that. You see here, there are more exposed. Later on, dr. Fortes takes the class to white beach. Glean seaweed, calcified. He wishes to impart the Environmental Protection to the next generation. Boracay, for me, its more a challenge. Its a beautiful, no doubt about it. Very beautiful. Not just the sand. But the underwater, but this a challenge, because there are so many problems that somehow erode the benefits from the resources. As a professor of marine science, thats what our duty is. We are obliged to share the knowledge, the result of our research to those who need them. White beach is treasured as boracays most precious jewel. The efforts to preserve the environment continued held hello there, welcome to newsline, im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Federal reserves have been thinking about the timing of future rate hikes. But uncertainties in the Global Economy making them cautious. Out come of the latest policy meeting. Lets go straight to ai uchida. This time officials decided not to raise rates. There he debated, but in the end, the officials decided to leave it unchanged between 0. 235 and 0. 5
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